Brighter Futures Begin with HOPE.

A recent letter to the editor in the Clarion Ledger discussing remedial courses takes a narrow perspective that discounts the necessity of remedial courses and mission of the state’s community college system. More importantly, it also overlooks the 352,000 adults in Mississippi between the ages of 25 and 54 who ended their formal education with a high school degree and upon returning to education, may need remedial courses before they enroll in college-level courses that lead to pathways for greater economic opportunity.[1]

Adults without formal education beyond high school experienced higher rates of unemployment and lower wages in the recent recession. In this economic environment, many working adults across Mississippi look to the resources of the state’s community college system to gain skills, move into new employment opportunities and increase wages.

Adults Rely on Community Colleges & Remedial Courses for Pathways to Economic Opportunity

A closer look at community college enrollment reveals that the demand for college courses among work-age adults is substantial, as the average community college student is over 25 years old and beyond the high school to college pathway.[2] For many of the adults that return years later to formal education, remedial courses play a vital role in ensuring that they can brush up on key skills in reading and math, so they are successful in college-level courses.

Taking the view that does not consider the importance of remedial courses for increasing access and persistence in post-secondary education for working adults leaves out thousands of adults who rely on those courses for economic advancement for themselves and their families.

Increasing Persistence in a Time of Growing Need

In recent years, community colleges have experienced a substantial increase in the number of students that enter their doors with the hope of gaining skills and quality jobs. At the same time, state funding per student has decreased. The decrease in funding per student means that community colleges have fewer resources per student to cover the cost of providing education in a time of rapidly growing enrollment.

Strengthening and improving remedial courses can increase persistence and completion in post-secondary education, which results in an economic benefit to Mississippi’s workers, employers, and the state and gains skilled workers and economically-secure adults. In an environment of difficult labor market conditions and a growing demand from adults for more skills and quality jobs, remedial courses offer a gateway to increased skills for many low-skill adults that cannot be undervalued.

Funding Levels are Part of the Problem

Looking at all levels of education, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program has been underfunded significantly in recent years. Improving outcomes in Mississippi’s schools will require a three-legged approach:

1) High Standards;

2) Increased Accountability, and;

3) Consecutive years of full funding.

Unfortunately, not all these legs are in place and until we reach full funding across all levels of education, we will unapologetically advocate for a balanced approach that includes raising revenues instead of a cuts-only approach to ensure that schools at all levels have the resources needed to move the state and its students forward.

Authors:

Sarah Welker, Policy Analyst and Ed Sivak, MEPC Director

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[1] Working Poor Families Project. Population Reference Bureau, analysis of 2009 American Community Survey.

[2] State Board for Community and Junior College. 2010 Annual Report.